High School matching – still lousy
In New York City, 8th graders choose a high school. Um. They choose 12 high schools.
There are parts of the City where there are 12 nearby good options. But, strange, not every good option is good for every kid. And there are parts of the City (like most of the Bronx) where a kid is lucky to have a couple of nearby good options.
And then there are 19 schools that the DoE is trying to close, and tried to stop from getting freshmen next year. Even now, even after the NY State Supreme Court stopped them from closing those schools, they are still doing everything can to keep freshmen out. They make the next round confusing, with multiple choices. They persist in labeling the schools “failing schools.” ** They don’t want kids in them.
And the results citywide? One in four students did not get one of their top 3 choices. This includes almost seven thousand who got no choice at all. (Out of 12! How do you manage that??) And I don’t know how the DoE is screwing with the stats as they relate to the 19 no-longer-to-be-closed schools.
Having some choices might be nice. But in of NYC, school choice has been an excuse to target neighborhood schools, community schools – to starve them of resources, overcrowd them, and (try to) close them down. Where is the default option? They’ve intentionally destroyed it. And replaced it with? In parts of the City, there are options. But in much of the Bronx, kids are faced with an array of Nadelstern-failure academies. And the options are lousy in parts of other boroughs, as well. And in more middle class areas of other outer boroughs? There are still, essentially, large and medium-sized zoned high schools. Poor kids get “special” treatment.
New year, similar story.
2007 – Mismatch
2009 – taking pride in failure
** Additionally, after a recent State Supreme Court ruling halted the City’s plans to phase out 19 failing schools, the Department ran a match process for students who listed one of the schools originally slated for phase-out on their initial high school application.
JD2718 
Thank you for writing this. I don’t know how anyone doesn’t see how gross the 12-school-roulette affects so many of our most disadvantaged students. One of my students had a 90 average, above average math and ELA test scores, made principal’s honor roll, etc, and couldn’t even get into his first, second, or any other choice. I hate to use case studies too, but that’s an egregious failure if you ask me. I deal with this sorta thing every year, wondering if my students coulda / woulda / shoulda made it into the school of their choice or an adequate one.
You don’t often hear school choice touted for its ability to deny students their top 12 picks.
im 34 &im trying to get my ged